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April 29, 2016 2:00 PM, EDT

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced a $357 million Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan from the Federal Highway Administration on May 2 that will finance the construction of four toll lanes on State Highway 288 in Houston.

“The TIFIA loan program is designed to help communities like Houston begin projects like this — a project that they would have otherwise had to wait years to start,” Foxx said. “The new tolls lanes will provide a more reliable commute in one of America’s most congested metro areas, and improve access to jobs and community services in neighborhoods there.”

The SH 288 project will add toll lanes to more than 10 miles between U.S. 59 and the Harris County line — including direct ramps to the Texas Medical Center — a new interchange with the Sam Houston Tollway and upgrades to the Loop 610 interchanges. The TIFIA loan will go to the Blueridge Transportation Group, the company that will build and operate the lanes until 2068. Toll revenue will be used to repay the loan.

SH 288 is a major north-south transportation corridor for the Houston metro area, the nation’s fifth largest with more than 6.5 million residents.

“Critical infrastructure projects like this one depend on innovative new approaches, and the Lone Star State has been a leader in using such creative solutions,” said FHWA Administrator Gregory Nadeau. “The people of Houston have needed improvements to this corridor for a long time.”����